Morgan, born in 1870, was a student at the Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Northfield, MA when he caught the attention of James Naismith, Springfield College faculty member and inventor of basketball, at a football game. Naismith encouraged Morgan to attend Springfield College (then the International YMCA Training School). Morgan graduated from the Training School. In 1895, after a year of working as a physical director at the Auburn YMCA, Morgan left Maine and became a physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, MA. While working as the physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Morgan developed the game of volleyball as a less strenuous alternative to basketball for middle-aged business men. Morgan's game was originially called "Mintonette" because it combined elements of both basketball and badminton. The game was first debuted at Springfield College during a conference for YMCA physical directors. At that time the name volleyball was suggested to Morgan by Alfred Halstead. Morgan left the YMCA in 1897 to begin work with General Electric and Westinghouse but maintained his ties to the college and the game he created. Morgan died in 1942 at the age of 72.

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